Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1887-03-31
GENERAL STATE NEWS.
BURNED ALIVE.
A Boarding House at Bessemer
Burned, and IL Men Perish.
Others Seriously Injured.


About O'Clock on the morning of
March 23 the Colby mine boarding house,
at Bessemer was destroyed by fire.
Twelve of the occupants were burned to
death, and number of others seriously
injured. The following is list of the
dead: James Ryan, John Carney, John
Ball, VIM. Williams, j. Brossa, Henry
Scam, Simon RisZO, Max Privided, John
Lyon, John Sutton, old unknown man.
At the time of the confiagration the
house was occupied by twenty-one miners,
the boarding boss and his wife and two
servants. The occupants of the building
were all asleep, and it Is not known exact
ly how the fire originated. 1t is supposed,
however, that the fire started in the sit
ting room on the first floor. Frank Miller,
the proprietor of the house, and his wife
and two servants occupied rooms on the
lower floor. Mrs. Miller was
awakened in some manner and Immediate
ly aroused her husband. When he awoke
the room adjoining, which was occupied
by the two servants, was prey to the
flames, and 1t was with the utmost diff
Guilty that the four escaped with their
lives. The flames spread so rapidly that
it was impossible to give any alarm to
the occupants of the rooms above. There
were twenty-one miners on the second
floor, and those who escaped say that when
they awoke the whole house was evidently
one mass of flame. A number of the men
who happened to awake made their escape
by jumping from the windows. Several
persons who thus escaped had limbs
broken, but there were no fatal injuries
James Lynch, one of the occupants of the
MIA hot fntt
other persons in the same room
with him. He was awakened by a
room mate clambering over him
towards the windows. The room was full
of smoke and flame at the time and he
barely succeeded in breaking open a
window and making his escape. The four
others were also awakened, and the last
he saw of them they were making their
way towards the window. However, the
flames spread so rapidly that all four per-
ished, he being the only one who escaped
from the room.
Among the other occupants who per-
ished were four men who had just been
employed the previous evening and slept
in the house for the first time.
The burned building was located on an
open piece of ground, only short dis
lance from where the mines are being OPP
Grated at the present time. The attention
of the night gang of workmen was called
to the flames, but by the time they arrived
at the scene the .place was almost totally
destroyed, and il was too late to save the
lives of any of the men.
The victims are nearly all single men
and strangers, and it is not known where
their homes are. With few exceptions
they are foreigners having only recently
come to this country. When the charred
remains were removed from the debris of
the burning building it was impossible to
identify them, so badly were they burned.
Bessemer is one of the mining villages
which have sprung into existence through
the development of the Gogebic region. 1t
has now population of 1000 or 1900,
the famous Colby mine being located
there. 1t is on the Milwaukee, Lake
Shore & Western railroad and is 46 miles
from Ashland, being near the extreme
northwestern point of the upper peninsula
of Michigan.